Serious Mental Illness

focus on the 4%

Serious mental illness is an equal opportunity disability. It doesn't care what you look like, how old you are, where you go to school or work, what race or gender you are, or even what kind of car you drive. It unabashedly afflicts 4% of the population without bias or seeming end in sight.

Our organization advocates for people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar disorder with psychotic features, and major depression. These are the individuals who fall through the current gaps in our nation's mental illness treatment system.

Approximately 40-50% of individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar have some form of Anosognosia, the inability to understand they have an illness. Anosognosia is not denial, shame, or a product of stigma. It is a biological condition that significantly hinders a person's ability to advocate for themselves. We work to give voice to this forgotten and marginalized population.

Resources We Like: Policy

"Insane Consequences proposes smart, compassionate, affordable, and sweeping reforms designed to send the most seriously ill to the head of the line for services rather than to jails, shelters, prisons, and morgues. It lays out a road map to spend less on mental "health" and more on mental "illness"--replace mission creep with mission control and return the mental health system to a focus on the most seriously ill. It is not money that is lacking; it's leadership."

"Torrey is the conscience of the country and its most articulate spokesperson when it comes to public mental health care. His latest installment, American Psychosis, is a scathing analysis of the abject failure of U.S. mental health care policy written in his usual lucid and compelling style. Torrey is the Dorthea Dix of our time." -- Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD, President Elect, American Psychiatric Association; Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.